Using a CFD model to understand the fluid dynamics promoting E. coli breakage in a high-pressure homogenizer

A Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) model of flow in a high-pressure homogenizing valve (APV Gaulin model 30CD) was developed with the Fluent software. The 2D model consists of an unstructured hexagonal mesh, dense in the regions of high gradients. The flow (single-phase) was modeled as laminar upstream of and in the channel (gap) and turbulent downstream of the channel exit. Applying a realizable kappa-epsilon turbulence model, the CFD model accurately predicted the effect of gap space on fluid dynamic conditions upstream (inlet pressure and pressure gradient) and downstream (impact pressure) of the channel for a valve with a standard (CD-0) impact distance (0.25 mm) and a 1 cP fluid. This CFD model was then used to estimate the magnitude of the fluid dynamic parameters (except cavitation effects) presumed to be responsible for cell breakage, as a function of gap space, impact distance and fluid viscosity. The CFD models predicted that for a given volumetric flowrate the upstream fluid conditions (inlet pressure gradient, maximum channel strain rate) and the maximum energy dissipation rate in the post-gap jet depend only on the gap space and the fluid viscosity and not on the impact distance. The impact pressure however depends on the gap spacing, the fluid viscosity and especially the impact distance. Experimental results indicate that higher inlet pressures are required to break cells, if the impact distance is increased. By conducting experiments to isolate individual cell breakage mechanisms for a single pass, threshold values were identified for breaking Escherichia coli cells: pressure gradient, 1.2 x 10(12) Pa/m; energy dissipation rate, 1.0 x 10(10) m(3)/s(2); and impact pressure, 160 psig. By isolating the wall impact as the sole mechanism responsible for breaking the E. coli cells between 3000 and 6000 psig inlet pressure, a relationship between E. coli cell breakage rate and maximum wall impact pressure was established (eq 5).